Title: The Foundation of Spiritual Freedom
foundation of spiritual freedom
1 Corinthians 4:1-5, 8th Sunday after Epiphany, February 27, 2011
Paul is known to us today as a great apostle, theologian, and writer of spiritual songs, but not so much in his days. He is the head of Gentile Christianity. Paul did not get along very well with the Jewish and Christian leaders of his day. The book of Galatians reports that Paul even fought with them to the extent that it is almost acceptable to call them heresy. People sent from Judeo Christianity in Jerusalem came to a church in Galatia and argued that not only the gospel of salvation through faith in Jesus alone, but also the Torah and circumcision should be observed at the same time. Paul referred to such teachings as another gospel that would be “accursed.” He even publicly rebuked Peter and Barnabas. In the end, Paul could no longer preach the gospel where Judaism was influenced. The missionary position has moved to the present-day Greek regions, such as Macedonia and Achaia (see Acts 16:6-10).
In 1 Corinthians 4:1-5, Paul explains what a servant of Christ should be like. If church leaders knew that they were workers of Christ, there would be no separation. They will be separated because they are pretending to be masters. First of all, Paul presupposes the fact that they are workers. The worker has two attributes. One is to be ‘one who has been entrusted with the mystery of God’ in internal attributes, and the other is to be ‘faithful’ in external attributes. (Verses 1, 2) Of course, the mystery of God is salvation through Jesus Christ. The reason this is a secret is that it doesn't come out clearly. A worker of Christ must first know the mystery. If you are a person who is prepared like this, you have no choice but to be faithful to the mystery of God, that is, the salvation event of Jesus Christ, without asserting yourself. To be loyal means to be totally dependent. In fact, this story is not special, it is normal. The problem is that it is difficult to follow the obvious facts as they are. The Corinthian church did not stop strife. What Paul really wants to say is not this obvious. What is it?
The Corinthian believers criticized each other for their religious behavior, assuming that they were right. For example, there were different opinions on whether it was okay to eat meat sold in the market. It was noisy with various gift issues. Issues such as whether a woman should wear a towel over her head in church. Paul clearly expressed his thoughts on this subject. People with strong faith can eat meat, but for those who don't, it is better to be temperate. However, he did not absolutize his thoughts. Because only the Lord can judge. So, in today's text, he tells us not to judge anything until the Lord comes, saying that the Lord will reveal the things hidden in darkness and reveal the will of the heart (verse 5). It means that in the end the reality of all things will be revealed. In 1 Corinthians 13:12, he said that before the Lord comes, our spiritual condition now is like looking in a mirror, and only when the Lord comes can we know as we see face to face.
When Paul speaks of the coming of the Lord, it sometimes refers to the second coming of Jesus. It does not mean that he will come as he was as a young Jewish man 2,000 years ago. He cannot come again in the clouds, as the early Christians explained. That Jesus has already been transformed into a resurrected body. The second coming of Jesus refers to the event in which the resurrection life fully reveals its reality. That time is called the end. The end is not the end, but a new beginning. So, the writer of Revelation describes the new world as a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. To explain it metaphorically, then, it will change from the world of seeds to the world of flowers. The present life has a flower hidden in the seed, so we cannot empirically determine what it is. The death of the innocent, the cause of evil, we cannot comprehend. The mechanisms of life in this world supported by the food chain cannot be understood now. Only then will the underpinnings of what we now know tentatively be fully revealed. It is similar to the fact that an individual's destiny must pass through death to reveal its true nature.
Does this mean that we should not judge anything before the end of the coming of the Lord? Paul clearly said so, but we must take it into account, not literally. Even Paul was constantly judging, and sometimes he struggled to hide his quarrels. Jesus also argued during his public life. The Sabbath debate is a classic story. In a way, Jesus was crucified because of an argument with the Pharisees, Sadducees, and those of the priesthood. It is no exaggeration to say that the history of Christianity is a history of such debates. The problem is the dogmatic attitude. Arguing on the level of truth is different from arbitrarily oppressing people who are different from you. The former approaches from the dimension of the apocalypse, while the latter clings to the dimension of the past. The former begins with a soul free from everything, while the latter begins with a soul that is dependent on others.
Beloved saints, direct your spiritual eyes to the coming Jesus Christ. He alone judges what is wheat and what is chaff. He alone distinguishes between what is true life and what is false life. When you leave your life to His judgment, your soul is truly freed. This freedom is not the freedom of self-indulgence to do whatever we want, but the humble freedom to say, “Neither am I judging myself,” as Paul puts it.